Hello!
I realize I'm a bit (read: very!) slow and vague on communicating more info about commissions.
The thing is, there are more people interested in commissions than I can handle ... first world problems, I know :X
Still, the fact remains that each commissions takes a long time to finish and with lots of people queuing up, it becomes harder to predict when I will be available again. On top of that, people already in the queue may have changed their mind about commissioning me by the time they're up, which is understandable, given the amount of time that passed.
This is a crappy situation for both me and the people waiting for their turn. The way I see it, there are only two options to fix this: either I have to try and be more productive and finish commissions faster or I have to start turning down commissions.
Well, I certainly could be more productive. I often catch myself spending an outrageous amount of time working on stuff, which probably no one even notices. But then again, those may be the things which make my stuff look like they do. Also I actually enjoy that tinkering a lot!
If I decided to start turning down commissions, how should I even go about that? How should I decide which ones to accept, without being unfair?
I am a bit at a loss here and would appreciate your suggestions. One thing I'm definitely taking away from the current batch of commissions is that I'll never accept more than two or three at once again.
My advice, dont sacrifice what you enjoy and the time you spend on it just to finish it. just turn some people down dude, be firm but honest and take only what you believe you can handle, is a fun and interesting concept to do and you feel committed too. will be tough to disappoint some, but you are only one man my friend, and it will take away the enjoyment of doing it if it becomes a huge burden for just work work work with no breather..
ReplyDeleteYou are not a public business, what you choose to accept is entirely up to you. You are free to pick which commissions you would like to work on and which ones you don't. If you have 2 commission requests but can only do one, pick the best looking one, or the one that was more expensive, I mean its your call. Nobody should be upset if you say you can't do theirs,
ReplyDeleteWhat these guys said ^
ReplyDeleteAgreed you can't please everyone all at the same time. Doing what makes you happy is going to please the people that are willing to wait for your art. And for anyone that has made more then macaroni art understands that it takes time to do it the way the artiest and most importantly the buyer wants it done.
ReplyDeleteThe only advice I can give you is:
ReplyDeletedon't just set yourself goals! make a plan how to achieve it. a time plan for example.
something like 1 hour per day and the rig must be finished in 2 weeks
not too much, otherwise you get frustrated with your time management and don't keep it up
you still need enough time for yourself
hope it helped getting some motivation ;)
Thanks for the input so far! I'll consider these things when I open commissions again.
ReplyDeleteA bit late for responding here, but you could also consider using scaling pricing based on demand, using some sort of formula where things cost more depending on the size of your que.
ReplyDeleteyeah but the most important is
ReplyDeletehow much do you take for an animation ? (not too much i hope)
and how many characters in your library and who are they ?
Hey Ellowas, I'm very late to this conversation but as a person who really enjoys your work (and hasn't really had the nerve to comment directly before) it's great to see somebody so good at this having such a great attitude about doing it right and making people happy at the same time. A number of talented folks whose work I appreciate have gone in rather poor directions regarding their work ethic and beyond so it makes interacting with them a particularly intimidating prospect even when just on a social level, and seeing as you're one of the few people whose work I specifically would like to pay for down the road I'm relieved to see a change of pace in that regard.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I definitely agree with adopting some form of bloc system where you announce commission windows in advance and then update as each slot you can expect to work on in a comfortable time frame is filled. That way it's not a case of having to turn folks down directly and feel bad, or be pressured to rush your excellent work. In fact, you could list each commission as public or private in said bloc system so folks know ahead of time when to expect material they're able to view and when you're busy working on stuff they aren't gonna see.
Either way, good luck and happy holidays. The girlfriend and I love your work and look forward to seeing what you do with WoW stuff in particular once the game's models are finally updated for the coming expansion.
Thanks! Glad to hear that some people think like that about me =)
DeleteYeah, announcing upcoming commissions is a great idea, but there's a reason why I'm very vague about future works: you can never be sure that things work out as planned.
Happy holidays to you too!